The Reading of Twilight's Dawn
by Ultra Erasers
Summary: Surreal gets a hold of a new book...and feels the urge to share with the rest of the group.  Our reaction to Twilight's Dawn and the fallout surrounding it.  Rated T for possible swearing and violent themes.
1. Chapter 1

The Reading of Twilight's Dawn

Summery: Surreal gets a hold of a new book...and feels the urge to share with the rest of the group. =Our reaction to Twilight's Dawn and the fallout surrounding it.=

Disclaimer: We do not own the Black Jewel Trilogy, and if we did... well, Twilight's Dawn would never have been written.

Author's Note: This started out as a crack!fic, but it's grown into something very fun. It makes us feel better about Twilight's Dawn, and we hope it does the same for you, too. And for the record, this is a joint effort between two authors, and we apologize for any weird jumps or mistakes. Feel free to write a review and let us know if you spot any mistakes or just to tell us you're reading.

* * *

Surreal slapped her hand across her mouth, trying to muffle the sound that was a cross between a laugh and a gasp of horror. It failed, and Daemon looked up from his desk, curious.

"I told you not to eat whatever that was Lucivar cooked." Daemon reminded her, looking at her over the top of his glasses.

"Lucivar can cook?" Surreal exclaimed in surprise. "I mean... it's not that. I got this book earlier."

Daemon set his papers down on the table in front of him and looked at her closer. "I distinctly remember the last time you found a book that amusing. Am I going to have to kill someone else now?"

Surreal swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth and the mention of Jarvis Jenkell before shaking her head. "No, it's not like that." She gave him her scariest grin. "I'm pregnant!"

Surreal had never seen that particular expression before. Especially not from Daemon.

"You're WHAT?" He thundered.

"At least, that's what the book says..."

"I -" Daemon shook his head, "The book is about you?"

"Us, Daemon. Specifically you and me... having babies."

"WHAT?" She could swear that the library rattled with his voice. For a moment she wondered if it would have been safer to have this conversation with a few buffers around. Perhaps Jaenelle and Saetan might have been a good choice.

Or maybe not them, she thought as she scanned a few pages ahead in the book.

Daemon made a distressed sound in the back of his throat and she looked up

again. She could have sworn he normally had more color in his face...

Taking pity on him, she decided to explain, "Apparently this author finds us fascinating, so she decided to write a story about us."

"I - can she do that?" Daemon asked, clearing his voice a few time to get his voice to hold strong.

"Artistic license, Daemon. And killing her now will just make the book more popular."

"But...She...I...Why were _we_ having babies? What happened to Jaenelle?" Daemon was clearly still struggling with the concept of books.

"Well," Surreal began, "She... I ...Maybe you should just read it." She sighed. "But please don't destroy it. I want to have it around for later amusement."

Surreal held out the book, but Daemon stood up and moved towards the door instead.

"Come on, Surreal."

"Where are we going?" Surreal stood up slowly, concerned by his blank face. There was no cold rage, and she felt lost.

"We," He held the door open for her, "Are going to go buy a few more copies. If we are going to do this, we are going to do it right."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Author's Note: Alright, the second chapter. Enjoy? And please review, because we'd like to know that we weren't such losers to write this in the first place.

* * *

Saetan's chucking made everyone in the room felt slightly uncomfortable. However, no one was willing to ask what he found so amusing. Finally, Rainier, who had been dragged to the study by an amused Surreal, broke the silence.

"Has anyone noticed that I'm not in this book at all?"

"You died," Surreal informed him, holding up the book, "See? You got a whole sentence!"

"Really? Where?" Lucivar flipped through the pages, "I don't get why we can't just read it out-loud."

Saetan cleared his throat, "...now it was more than a desire for comfort and sex driving him, and that _something _was tan-"

"STOP!" Lucivar jumped from his chair, wings spread out fully. He shuddered once and pulled his wings in, allowing Marian to pull him back to the couch they were sharing.

Marian looked at Saetan who looked rather smug, "I think we can all read it ourselves." Lucivar nodded and took his copy back. She glanced over at Daemon, who sat behind his desk, eyes trained on the book as if he couldn't decide the best form of destruction.

The door to the study opened and Jaenelle rushed in "Sorry I'm late, I wa-" she looked around the room, and taking note of the awkward atmosphere. "What exactly are we doing?"

Surreal tossed a book at her, using craft to keep the speed steady as Jaenelle snatched it, "Reading. Find a chair."

Jaenelle glanced around the room once more, where no one was willing to meet her eyes, before shrugging and sitting on the edge of Daemons desk and opening the book.

.

.

.

"Rainier." Surreal poked him in the ribcage.

"Shhh. I'm trying to read." He pushed her and away and she poked him again, "Alright, alright, what? Just stop elbowing me!"

"Do you know what you're getting me for Winsol?" She grinned at him.

"Um...if I say no, are you going to hit me?"

"No. I'm going to tell you what you're getting me!" She replied excitedly.

"Somehow I'm finding that concerning, but alright. What am I getting you?" He asked, sighing.

Surreal snatched the book from his hands and started madly flipping pages. "There! That's what you're getting me!"

Rainier took the book back and skimmed the page she was pointing at. "Well...I...erm...Do you promise not to use it on me?"

"Yes." Surreal agreed. "Unless you do something really terrible." She nudged him with her shoulder.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Daemon questioned.

"Nothing!" Surreal answered, too quickly, burying her head back into her book.

.

.

.

"Surreal?" Surreal jerked her head up from the book quickly, sensing danger. She met Jaenelle's eyes and shivered.

"If you _ever_ sleep with my husband there won't be enough of you left to have a child."

Surreal swallowed before giving a hesitant nod. Jaenelle smiled brightly before turning her attention back to the book in her lap.

Surreal looked around the room, noting the fact that the only other person who seemed to notice the exchange was Daemon.

She tried not to think about what private conversation could be going on between the married couple that could make _Daemon_ blush that particular shade.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Author's note: I... just. Read.

* * *

"Mother Night! I did what?" Lucivar shouted, jumping off the couch for the second time, holding the book as far away from his body as possible.

"I don't know. What did you do?" Jaenelle asked, looking up from her book that was perched on her lap.

"I guess she hasn't gotten to that part yet," Saetan commented, shifting in his own chair for comfort.

"Clearly I haven't either..." Marian replied, slightly concerned.

Daemon cleared his throat, "Oh don't worry, you will. And Lucivar? If you ever do that, there won't be any part of you big enough to identify."

Lucivar swallowed loudly. "Don't worry; I will absolutely never do...that"

"Good." Daemon searched for where he had left off reading.

"Obviously I'm missing something here..." Rainier shook his head.

"You've got about two pages until you figure it out." Surreal informed him, glancing over his shoulder.

.

.

.

Daemon glanced up as Marian slipped back into the room from taking a break for necessary needs.

She gave him a slight smile, "They got Daemonar to bed alright. And Grey's Fang wants to know why he wasn't invited to story time."

Surreal's head shot up from her book, "I will kill the first person who ever reads this book to one of the kindred."

Saetan chucked, "I hate to tell you, darling, but they can read."

Surreal looked mildly ill and leaned against Rainer, "Can you imagine what kind of ideas they would get if they _ever _got a hold of this?"

There was a collective shiver from everyone except Saetan, who was still looking far too entertained for his own good.

Lucivar glared at his father, "Why the hell are you enjoying this so much?"

Still looking pleased with himself, Saetan just shook his head again, "If you haven't figured it out yet, I really shouldn't tell you."

Concerned glances shot around the room. Surreal tried to skip to the end of the book to see exactly what was so amusing, and failed.

"Argh! I can't skip pages!" She exclaimed, glaring at Daemon who shrugged,

"Clearly that doesn't stop you from try- OW!" Rainier yelped. "Surreal, that hurt!"

Surreal blinked at him, "I didn't do anything."

"You stomped on my foot!"

"Children," Saetan interrupted, "do I need to separate you two?"

"No," they chorused, looking sheepishly down at their laps.

Daemon and Lucivar exchanged a look and snickered, glad that their father's fathering side didn't only apply to them.

"I still can't skip pages..." Surreal pointed out.

Saetan just chuckled, and resumed reading.

.

.

.

"I'm almost to the end!" Surreal broke out, breaking the silence that had held for the last few hours. Empty trays of food sat around, abandoned by the servants who weren't willing to brave the room again to pick them up.

Lucivar rubbed his eyes with the back of his palm. Marian

was learning against him, her copy sitting in his lap. She was closer to the end of the book than he was, and he had been trying to read from her book for the last hour, without his father's notice. He didn't feel like testing Saetan's patience, considering that he had locked the pages in the first place so no one could skip ahead.

Still, Marian wasn't as far ahead as Surreal, who only had two pages to go. He glanced around to see that he wasn't the only one who had stopped and was watching Surreal. Rainer had even closed his book and began reading over his shoulder.

Lucivar absently wondered if Rainer was aware of how close he was to Surreal's favorite stabbing arm.

Surreal turned the page, skimming the words and then shut the book with an audible snap. Rainer met Lucivar's eyes and shrugged.

Saeten rose from his chair and offered his arm to Surreal, "I think we should leave everyone else to finish the book."

Surreal took his arm, nodding mutely as they left the room, the door swinging shut behind them.

The room was silent as everyone watched the pair exit. Finally, after many glances were exchanged around the room, Jaenelle looked at the others.

"We should just finish reading this and see how it turns out."

"You're probably right, but it's just so bad." Daemon responded.

"It's awful," Marian agreed, "But I can't put it down..."

"Which is why we need to finish." Jaenelle replied, opening the book again.

.

.

.

Saetan and Surreal strolled around the garden, breathing in the fresh air.

"You know, I wondered how the author knew what the garden looked like," Surreal said, "Why would she..?"

Saetan shook his head, "Who knows. Perhaps she was bored or thought we needed some teasing."

Surreal shuddered, "But me? And Daemon? He's like an older cousin. He was pretty much the only family I had back then."

Saetan patted her arm lightly as they led them back towards the study, "You think they're about done?"

Surreal's eye twitched, "I hope so, because I feel a nice, family screaming fest is in order."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Author's note: Last chapter, here we go! We hope you enjoyed and will leave us a note. Even if you didn't enjoy, leave us a note. Improvement is good for you, and we are supposed to be doing more things that are good for us…

* * *

They arrived on the landing web, still a bit stunned from the ending of the book.

Jaenelle led the way as they walked hurriedly toward their destination.

"I still can't believe it," Marian said, as they followed the butler through the hallways, "Why would she do that?"

"Why not?" replied a voice from behind them. They all turned to face the newcomer, who stood in the doorway of the sitting room.

Karla was leaning on one cane, but looked stronger than she had the last few times Surreal had seen her. She gave them a wicked grin. "Read anything interesting lately?"

Surreal held up the book, glaring at Karla. "Why?"

Karla shrugged, "Why not? I was bored and I wanted to see how long it would take for someone who'd recognize it to notice." She gave them a sharp smile, "You guys took _forever_. I thought I'd have to leave it on Daemon's desk or something."

There were a few tense moments of silence until Jaenelle's laughter broke it. With tears leaking out of her eyes, she leaned up against Daemon.

By the time any of them could control their laughter again, they were all in piles on the floor

"The best part was probably the last line." Rainer admitted, leaning against the wall with Surreal against his chest.

Karla shrugged awkwardly from her position, "I wanted you all to know it was me, and I figured 'kiss, kiss' was the best way."

Jaenelle gave a hic-up of a laugh and pressed her face against Daemon's arm.

Eventually Saetan was the first to stand up, stretching his old bones. "As enjoyable as this was, I spent my entire day locked in Daemon's study, reading. I fear if I don't get back soon, I'll never finish with all the things at the Keep.

Daemon nodded, pulling Jaenelle to her feet before stepping over to help Karla. He gave her a brotherly kiss on the cheek, "Thank you."

They all headed out of the room, and towards the door, only Marian pausing for a moment. She waved her husband on before stepping over to Karla.

"Don't tell them, okay?" Karla nodded, "Daemon and Surreal would be..." Marian turned bright red.

Karla nodded, "I know, right?"


End file.
